Chapter 1

"Mrs. Vescari, the yacht will reach the designated waters shortly after midnight tomorrow," the man on the phone said. "Our people will remove you before the accident is reported.Within three days, Evelyn Vescari will be declared dead, and Claire Rowan will arrive in Milan."

He paused before asking, "Do you want to cancel the arrangement?"

I stood at the end of the hospital corridor and watched snow gather on the windowsill.

"Proceed as planned."

I ended the call, deleted the number, and slipped the phone into my hospital gown. Water still burned in my lungs when I breathed. I steadied myself against the wall and returned to my room.

Roman came toward me as soon as he saw me.

"Did the doctor give you permission to leave bed?"

He guided me back beneath the covers and adjusted them around my shoulders. Roman Vescari gave orders that senior members of his family rarely questioned, yet he handled me with endless patience.

He took a white pastry box from inside his coat.

"Lemon pastries from that bakery you like in Brooklyn."

The box was still warm. Snow had slowed traffic across half the city, but he had remembered that I hated hospital food.

The night nurse paused beside the bed. "Your husband stayed here until morning. I told him to rest, but he refused to leave."

Roman smiled politely and brushed the hair away from my forehead.

"She hates waking up alone."

He had cared for me this way throughout our marriage. When stomach pain kept me awake, he canceled family dinners and stayed home. Before my first formal Vescari gathering, he had the seating arrangements changed because he knew crowds made me uneasy. After a business associate insulted me at a private club, the man lost every contract he held with Vescari companies.

Everyone in New York believed Roman loved me. I had believed it too.

Five years earlier, Adrian Falcone promised to marry me after I graduated from design school. At the celebration, he walked past me and placed a ring on Celeste's finger in front of both families.

Roman found me after the guests began whispering. He offered no empty comfort. He only asked if I wanted to leave with him.

I married him three months later, certain that I had finally found a man who would choose me without hesitation.

That certainty ended the night before.

The Vescari family had hosted a charity dinner at its estate on Lake George. Celeste asked me to meet her in the boathouse because she wanted to discuss Adrian. Once we reached the dock, she seized my wrist and pulled me into the water. Then she began screaming that I had pushed her.

Roman heard us and ran from the house. Celeste was farther from shore, but he did not look at me before swimming past.

He carried her to the dock while the freezing water dragged me down. An estate security guard eventually pulled me out.

After I regained consciousness, I heard Roman speaking to Victor, his adviser, outside my room.

"You married Evelyn, and Celeste married Adrian," Victor said. "How long are you going to keep running whenever Celeste calls?"

Roman remained silent before answering.

"Celeste is part of my past. I married Evelyn, and I will give her everything Mrs. Vescari deserves."

His voice had been calm and sincere. I thought of the home he had chosen for me, the jewelry he bought, and every anniversary he had remembered. Roman had fulfilled every duty he associated with marriage, and he intended to continue.

The lake had exposed the one choice he could not control.

Roman opened the pastry box and offered me one.

"Are you still angry?"

"No."

He studied my face. "Celeste was closer. I did not have time to think. I know you were frightened, but she is still your sister."

The cameras near the boathouse would have shown him the distance between us. I did not remind him, and I did not tell him that I had watched him swim by.

"I understand."

The tension left his shoulders. He sat beside me and closed his hand around mine.

"Tomorrow is our fifth anniversary. The yacht is ready. We can spend the night at sea, and when you recover, we will discuss that trip to Milan."

Milan had once been the center of every plan I made. My former mentor, Theo Arden, ran a design studio there and had invited me to join his team twice.

I refused the first invitation because I wanted Adrian.

I refused the second after I accepted Roman's proposal.

"All right," I said as I took the pastry. "We will go to the marina tomorrow."

Roman kissed my forehead. His phone lit up before he could sit down again, and his expression changed when he read the name on the screen.

"There is a problem at one of the family hotels. I need to handle it. I will return before dinner."

He took his coat and left without waiting for my answer.

Less than a minute later, Celeste sent me an address on the Upper East Side and one line beneath it.

Follow him. You should see who those pastries were really meant for.